Atlanta Pride Kickoff swims with the fishes

Each year on Pride Friday, local LGBTs don their gay apparel and make Georgia Aquarium the biggest gay bar in town for a few hours. And so began the fish tale of Atlanta Pride on Friday.

Some 4,000 people were all hugs and smooches as they descended on the sold-out event to mark the traditional start of Pride. The aquarium walls served as backdrops for the crowd as they mingled and moved to DJ Edil Hernandez in the common room, as well as Atlanta’s own Diablo Rojo on the turntables in the Oceans Ballroom.

The ballroom also served as Pride’s VIP pre-party. Sponsors, parade grand marshals and guests got a pre-party of catered food and two dedicated bars of their very own before opening the doors to the rest of the event. The VIP party also hosted singer Sylvia Tosun.

It’s a pandemic. Protests over police brutality are filling the streets. Calls for justice and equality are growing louder. In the middle of the chaos, it’s also primary day in Georgia on June 9. READ MORE »

Sarah Riggs Amico – one of the Democrats hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. David Perdue – kicked off Pride month with a call for racial equality and a public conversation with transgender advocates. READ MORE »